Twenty-six-year-old Maggie (not her real name), who was diagnosed with chlamydia in her early 20s, says that, in retrospect, talking to a doctor about sexual issues was never a problem for her. Her matter-of-fact attitude makes her a model patient in that respect.

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On the other hand, the unsafe sexual behavior she engaged in during her early 20s was a good example of how psychology factors into sexual health. She was drinking a lot, doing drugs, and not using condoms.

"I was always a little surprised when a doctor would tell me, ‘Dont you know you should use protection?" says Maggie, who now sees her former sexual risk taking as a symptom of depression. "Knowing that something is dangerous or unhealthy is not the problem. Caring that it is dangerous or unhealthy was the problem."